Lighting unit



F. C. WINKLER LIGHTING UNIT Filed Nov. 12, 1937 INVENTOR Frederic CWin/Her.

WITNESSES:

pin

Gil

Patented Oct. 8, 1940 LIGHTING UNIT Frederic G WinkIer, Lakewood, Ohio,assignor to Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, EastPittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application November12,1937, Serial No. 174,196

. '5 Claims.

My invention relates, generally to lighting units, and, moreparticularly to interior lighting units of the suspension indirect type.

The object of the invention, generally stated, is to provide an indirectlighting unit which shall be of simple and light weight construction andwhich may be easily and economically manufactured.

A more specific object of my invention is to provide a reflector basinfor an indirect lighting unit having supporting ears or membersintegrally formed on the inside thereof.

A further object of the invention is to provide a basin or bowl for anindirect lighting unit which may be constructed of two separately formedportions suitably joined together into a unitary structure in suchmanner that entire outside surface is notmarred by screws, rivets or thelike.

Another object of the invention is to provide a lighting unit of thehanging or suspension type ,wherein the hanger may be economically andreadily shortened to accommodate ceilings or mounting surfaces ofdifferent heights.

These and other objects will become apparent from a study of thefollowing detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawing inwhich: 3

Figure l is a partially sectionalized view in ele vation of a lightingunit embodying the principal features of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a view'showing details of the hanger construction, and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion of the basin of Fig. 1.

Referring now to the drawing, which illustrates a preferred embodimentof the invention, the reference character [El designates the hanger ofthe fixture and reference character I l the basin or reflector.

The hanger comprises a ceiling canopy l2, stem I3, socket l4 and huskI5. -In this instance, the socket M for the lamp I6 is attached to thestem l3 by means of a socket cap I! which is secured to the top of thesocket by means of screws I 8.

In order to provide for shortening the hanger to accommodate varyinginstallation conditions the socket cap I1 is secured to the end of thehanger by means of a removable pin l9 extending through suitable alignedopenings in the stem and cap. The husk, which is loosely mounted toslide up and down the stem is curved inwardly at the top so that itrests upon the outside edge 2| of the socket cap, as shown in Fig. 2,and at the same time serves as a retainer for'the pin l9 be removed, thestemshortened to the desired length and a new hole drilled through theend thereof to receive the pin I9. Heretofore, it has been the practicetoattach the socket cap'to the stern 'by means of threads which requiredthat new threads be cut whenever it was desired to shorten the hanger. i

In order to provide a basin ll of lightweight construction, ofgood'appearance, and which will produce efficient, glare free and welldistributed illumination, it is preferably construct'edof sheet aluminumand is given a finishing treatment by the Alzak process for permanenceand simplified cleaning.

Since it is highly desirable in the manufacture of basins of this typeto obtain as near perfect an outside finish and appearanceas possible,provision must be made for supporting the basin from the hanger in suchmanner that the outside surface of the basin is not marred or disfiguredin any way by attaching lugs or other supporting means to the insidesurface thereof.

For this reasonand also to obtain economy in manufacture,' the basin His preferably constructed in two partswhich are suitably fastenedtogether to form a unitary member. By means of this construction, it ispossible to form the supporting lugs for the basin integral with one ofthe other of its two parts thereby making it unnecessary to fasten theselugs to the inside of the basin by riveting or welding or to do anythingwhich will mar or otherwise disfigure the outside surface or interferein any way with the finishing treatment of the basin.

In this instance the basin H comprises a top part 22, which is in theform of a one-piece shallow bowl with a central bottom opening ofrel-atively small diameter as compared to the large top opening. Thebottom part 23 of the basin is likewise formed in one piece and is bulbshaped, as shown, to generally conform'to the shape of the lamp bulb.The parts 22 and 23 may be formed from sheet material by a spinning orother suitable process.

The upper part 22 of the basin is so formed as to provide a channel 25about the central opening and spaced integral supporting lugs 26 whichare pierced to receive the hook-shaped ends 21 of the gupporting rods24, as shown in detail in Fig.

The channel 25 thus formed is utilized in this instance to attach thebottom part 23 of the basin to the top part 22 which may be accomplishedby crimping, swedging or spinning the two parts together in mechanicallyinterlocked relation. It will be apparent that this arrangement permitsthe basin to be constructed without resorting to riveting or welding andprovides a seam or joint which, when finished, is almost imperceptible.In other words, there are no screws or rivet heads to show and thecharacter of the basis material is not changed in any way to interferewith the surface finishing process such as would result if the two partswere welded together or the lugs 2 welded to the inside surface of thebasin. I 1

In view of the foregoing, it will be apparent that by utilizing thisconstruction, a basin may be produced in the most economical mannerhaving all the advantages as to appearance and performance as aone-piece construction. In addition, this construction permits theproduction of an aluminum basin with inside or concealed supporting lugswithout a marred or otherwise disfigured outside surface when finished.

Although I have described a specific embodiment of my invention, it willbe obvious to those skilled in the art, that various changes may be madein the details of construction, such as in the proportion and design ofthe several cooperating parts, without departing from the spirit of theinvention, as defined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. An indirect lighting unit comprising a hanger provided with a socketfor supporting the lamp and a husk element covering the socket, abowlshaped metallic reflector adapted to be supported beneath the lamp,said reflector being constructed of a top portion having a centralbottom opening defined by an external channel portion with upturned earportions on the inside.

and a. separate cup-shaped bottom portion havin its upper edgemechanically locked about the channel portion, and means interposedbetween the ear portions of the top portion of the reflector and thehusk element for supporting the reflector.

2. In an indirect lighting fixture comprising a hanger provided with asocket for supporting the lamp and a husk element covering the socket, abowl-shaped metallic reflector comprising a relatively large and shallowtop portion having a central bottom opening defined by an integrallyformed downwardly extending channel portion, a separate bulb-shapedlower portion having an outwardly extending flange portion with the edgethereof crimped about the channel portion, said top portion of thereflector having upwardly extending support-ears integral with thechannel portion, and means interposed between the husk element and theintegral support-ears for supporting the reflector beneath the lamp.

3. In an indirect lighting fixture comprising a hanger provided with asocket for supporting the lamp and a husk element covering the socket, abowl shaped metallic reflector comprising a shallow bowl-shaped topportion having a central bottom opening with an external inturnedchannel-shaped flange portion integral therewith and extendingdownwardly below the bottom of the top portion and a separatebulb-shaped lower portion having an outwardly extending flange at itsupper edge portion mechanically formed in fixed relation about thechannel-shaped flange portion of. the upper portion, and support meansinterposed between the external husk and the inturned flange portion ofthe top portion for supporting the reflector beneath the lamp.

4. An indirect reflector basin for a lighting fixture comprising ashallow bowl-shaped metallic top member having a central openingprovided with an integrally formed downwardly extending channel portion,and a separate bulb-shaped metallic lower member having an outertransversely extending flange portion at its upper edge portionmechanically interlocked about the out side surface of the channelportion of the top member to form a unitary basin structure.

5. A reflector basin for an indirect lighting unit comprising a shallowbowl-shaped top member of opaque material vhaving a central bottomopening provided with an integrally formed downwardly extending externalchannel portion

